Thanks Ollie. I have bolted roof on rather than relying on the over locking catches but I understand your point. I may look for a way to disguise it.
Pretty good, it certainly turns heads. I think it's a combination of the colour and the virtually straight through exhaust.
The only place it's got a bit of a "meh" reaction is where my youngest son works. But then they have a number of MK1 Lotus Cortinas, Lotus Elan's a Lamborghini Uracco, a Broadspeed Capri and a couple of Lola Le Mans cars from the 70's (amongst other things) so my efforts with a kit car don't do much for them.
They rebuilt one on Wheeler Dealers a few years ago and it used marine ply for the floor. I suppose it's easier to replace as it rots away...
So I spent yesterday dry sanding the front of the car ready for a wet sand and polish. I know there are a few on here who prep and paint cars for a living and can I say you now have my utmost respect as this was the most tedious and painful thing I have done in a long time.
Yeah, but not as bad as The Sound of Music :-P
What I'm planning for the final colour scheme:
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Quick update - I have now sanded off the orange peel and then wet sanded through the grades before a cut and polish. I have a friend who has a valeting business who has offered to teach me how to mop it although I will need to be careful as the paint is quite thin in places.
If anyone else is thinking of rollering their car it can be done but sanding down to get a good finish is bloody hard work.
Has anyone else bought a cover for their MX? Is there one that fits off the shelf? Birds seem to be using mine for target practice so I would like to give it a bit of protection from them and as the weather, as winter is coming (there's a jolly thought for all - 123 days to Christmas!)
Thanks Drummajor, I shall have a look on e-bay.
Barber, now you've made me think. Obviously there was prep during the fitting of the kit but then we all have to do that. I took a week off to do the painting and spent between 6 and 7 hours a day during that week, so 30 to 35 hours to apply the paint. If I'm honest it would have benefited from a 4th top coat.
Sanding back was done piece meal but I reckon another 20 or 30 hours. Removing the orange peel was done dry with an orbital sander and 320 grit paper. I then wet sanded with 600, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit. Some panels were sanded more than once to get the surface ready for polishing.
I have got a reasonable finish manually polishing with Autoglym Paint Renovator and then Super Resin polish but it does need mechanically polishing to get the fine lines out.
Oh, and I haven't sanded the rear at all yet as I know that is going to be a pain in the butt so I keep putting it off!
A few other notes of caution - I didn't put enough effort in to the prep before priming so there some high spots which, when cut back, left me with the primer showing through. I'm not too worried but if you are after a showroom finish this might annoy you. Also, getting in to some of the more fiddly areas to get rid of the orange peel or brush strokes is a grade 1 PIA.
Today was spent mopping with G3 scratch remover, a wash and chamois down and then a polish with Autoglym Super Resin polish. This is the result:
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My take, it's not a "factory finish" paint job but if you have a limited budget and plenty of time rollering isn't a bad way to get some colour on your car.
Thanks TynoPrime - I think Scottie said his paint job looks good from about 10ft away and this is about the same. As always with these things, if I were to do it again I would do some things differently but I'm reasonably pleased with the results.
Chris - I fancied matt but was told "It will look like a kit car" by my kids so had to cave on that one. Anyway, time to start doing more to the inside, just don't tell the wife!
Interesting drive to Lincoln the other week from our home just outside Cambridge. One Merc went past three times as the woman in the passenger seat tried to work out what the bloody hell it was.
Thanks to everyone who has commented. I took a trip to the Ace Cafe last night (it was a Porsche night but then you can't have everything) and the car certainly turned few heads. BTW - they have a kit car night there every now and again.
Barber - I think the main thing I would do differently is in the prep before painting. The gel coat finish from the moulds isn't perfect and the car would have benefited from a skim of filler over it all. There are also some very specific high points which have gone back to primer where I've sanded. I have seen people using a rattle can to find the high and low points and would probably do this before applying the primer if I were to start again.
The other thing I would probably do differently is be less aggressive when taking off the orange peel. I used either 240 or 320 grit paper and dry sanded. With more time and effort I could have got away with 400 wet sand and kept more of the top coat on and not had to go through so many grades to get to the final finish.
Ah, the benefits of hind sight. One of my better qualities is my perfect hind sight :-D
Will do. The next Kit Car day at the Ace Cafe is 10th September (11 'til 4). Unfortunately I fly back in from South Africa that morning and suspect I won't have the energy to get down there but I will try and get back there soon. Fueltopia sounds fun...
Hi Pete. The wheels are Rota Grid V which are 15" diameter and zero offset. The fronts are 225/60 15 and the rears 245/60 15 BF Goodrich "muscle car" tyres.
The only others I have seen which would fit these rims are Toyo R888's but these would be 215 front and 235 rear. When the Goodrich tyres are knackered I may well go down this route as the section is significantly smaller.
I had to do a lot of work on the inside of the rear arches to stop the wheels hitting when I go over bumps and the suspension is as stiff as a board. On really bad compression it does still hit a little bit :-(
Oh, and the speedo is now miles out so I use a GPS speedo instead.
Thanks Tyno - I'll think on it as I may well replace the tyres with smaller section ones in the near future (funds willing) so may not need do this. Downloaded an App which works quite well at the moment.
Interesting chat in Tesco car park today. A young man approached me and asked if he could photograph my car. He is a professional photographer and wants some images of my car to add to his portfolio and will do it for free. Never look a gift horse in the mouth :-D
Oh, and he thought it was a TVR until he looked inside and realised it was an MX.
